How Three Sentences Made Me a Writer via Author Linda Thompson

Today we welcome my new friend Linda Thompson to the blog. 

I remember the evening Linda won the 2016 ACFW Genesis award (I was a finalist that year in a different category) and I was impressed by her acceptance speech. I couldn’t wait to one day read The Plum Blooms in Winter.

From the seed of an idea to a full-blown novel, read Linda’s inspiring journey.

Take it away, Linda!

 

Most authors I meet decided they wanted to write a novel and then went looking for a story. For me, it was the opposite.

I felt a calling to tell this story. The story sucked me into this crazy roller-coaster ride called creating a novel.

It was my husband’s fault. He was devouring a history book about the Doolittle Raid, and he called me over to the couch. “Honey, you have to read this.” (Click-to-Tweet)

That’s when I ran across the fateful three sentences.

“Eventually, the woman confessed—her fiancé had been killed during the war, and she’d first gone to the rally for revenge. She was going to assassinate him. His words, remarkably, had touched her deeply, and… now she was a Christian.” – The First Heroes: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid by Craig Nelson (New York: Penguin Group, 2003).

Let me share some brief background. In the wake of Pearl Harbor, we as a nation felt whipped. And angry. An order came down from the highest level—President Roosevelt himself: find a way to bomb Tokyo. So the military brass came up with a mission plan that was bold. Borderline crazy. It came to be known as the Doolittle Raid.

On April 18, 1942, less than six months after Pearl Harbor, eighty volunteers took flight from the deck of the carrier U.S.S. Hornet in sixteen medium-weight B-25 bombers. This feat had never been attempted before—or since.

They deployed their payloads on Tokyo and other key targets on the Japanese main island. The planes were too big to land on the carrier, so the plan called for them to fly on to China. Unfortunately, not one of those planes found its landing strip. The sortie left most of the airmen stranded in enemy-occupied China.

Captured

Eight airmen were captured. If you’ve seen the movie or read the book Unbroken, you’ll have a picture of what these men endured. But where Louis Zamperini was a prisoner for a little more than two years, Doolittle’s “lost crews” remained in Japanese prison camps

… for forty long months, 34 of them in solitary confinement. We were imprisoned and beaten, half-starved, terribly tortured…. Three of my buddies were executed by a firing squad about six months after our capture and fourteen months later, another one of them died of slow starvation.… The bitterness of my heart against my captors seemed more than I could bear. – Corporal Jacob DeShazer in his tract I Was a Prisoner of Japan

After Lieutenant Meder’s tragic death from malnutrition, the Japanese gave the remaining prisoners a few books, including a Bible. And that Bible transformed them all.

Forgiveness Wins: The Raider Returns

Corporal DeShazer, the former bombardier of the Bat Out of Hell, was deeply affected. The Lord revealed to him during those miserable hours alone in his cell that He wanted to give the Japanese people an illustration of the meaning of forgiveness. Jake was to become that walking object lesson.

Upon his release, Jake rushed home to earn a Bible degree from Seattle Pacific College. In 1948, he returned to Japan as a missionary. The Lord used Jake and his new bride, Florence, to work miracles in many hearts.

Here’s the one that tugged at mine—the subject of the three sentences in my husband’s book.

Convinced that DeShazer dropped the bomb that stole the life of a man she loved, a young woman showed up at one of his meetings with a knife in her purse. Determined to exact her revenge, even if it cost her everything. But she was so moved by Jake’s example of forgiveness that she ultimately decided to follow Jesus instead.

That anecdote haunted me.

I confess I had a stereotype of Japanese women. Weren’t they gentle? Compliant? You know, haiku and flower-arranging?

The rest of her story is lost. Which was a gift, in a way. I was left to research the time period—fascinating and harrowing—and create the fictional tale of a deeply wounded, but committed and courageous heroine.

About midway through writing the novel, someone asked why I felt it had to be written. Why dredge up such excruciating memories? (Click-to-Tweet)

I doubted the calling myself many times. Why did I let this story take over my life for six years? But the Lord kept reaffirming it to me.

“Where the world sees failure, God sees future.” – Jon Acuff

The way God interwove these two lives is a powerful illustration of a timeless truth, which both characters ultimately discover. His grace pierces even to the darkest places our lost world can devise.

I’m hosting a drawing for a copy of Sarah Sundin’s latest WWII novel, The Sea Before Us, for new subscribers to my newsletter this month. You’ll also receive updates on my novel—including an opportunity to gain pre-launch access. Please enter HERE by Wednesday, May 30.

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Bio:

I stepped away from a marketing career that spanned continents to write what I love: stories of reckless faith that showcase God’s hand in history. I’m so excited to work with the all-star team at Mountain Brook Ink to launch my début novel, The Plum Blooms in Winter, this December!

The Plum Blooms in Winter is an American Christian Fiction Writers’ Genesis Contest winner. The novel follows a captured American pilot and a bereaved Japanese prostitute who targets him for ritual revenge. Please also feel free to check out my blog, Five Stones and a Sling, which hovers in the region where history meets Bible prophecy meets current events. It’s rich ground–we live in a day when prophecies are leaping from the Bible’s pages into the headlines!

I live outside Phoenix with my husband, a third-generation airline pilot who doubles as my Chief Military Research Officer. We share our home with a mostly-grown-up daughter and a small platoon of house cats. Our first grandchild is scheduled to arrive soon!

 

 

 

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PLEASE SHARE

 

It was those three sentences from a history book that breathed life into my upcoming novel.

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How author Linda Thompson, winner of the 2016 ACFW Genesis award, came to write The Plum Blooms in Winter.

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From 2016 ACFW Genesis award-winner to 2018 début author – what Linda Thompson learned early in the writing process.

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ENCOURAGEMENT

What the Worst Year of My Taught Me via author Laurie Wood

How author Laurie Wood persevered and triumphed, despite migraines, accidents, and injuries while raising two special needs children.

 

 

Original Image Credit via Clément Percheron on Unsplash

Original Image Credit via Linda Thompson

 

 

Have you ever felt drawn to write a particular story because of something you read?

Can you think of a time you were called to forgive someone, despite a tough circumstance?

What historical events have influenced your worldview? 

 

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Thanks so much for visiting! For the next few months, awesome guests will join us here as I take a brief respite from blogging. Please check the schedule for a complete line-up and stop by next week as we uplift and encourage.

I wanted to let you know that in addition to my Facebook author page, I recently started Cynthia’s FABulous Readers and Influencers’ Group. If you enjoy Heartfelt, Homespun Fiction and want to stay up-to-date on all my current books, I hope you’ll join us at both places. My new FB group is where I’ll chat more in depth about Her Hope Discovered and additional books in my Welcome to Ruby series. This is a “closed” group for those who are interested in connecting with me on a more personal level and for those who want to spread the word about my future books. To foster a more intimate, relaxed setting, the group is easy to find, but all posts are private. Again, I really hope to see you there!

Also, just a reminder—my monthly newsletter will wind its way to subscribers’ inboxes soon, and this month I’m sharing an exciting tidbit about my upcoming release!

To join my newsletter family, sign up here or in the top right-hand sidebar. Don’t forget to click on the confirmation links that will arrive in your inbox, as this completes the sign-up process. As a newsletter subscriber, you’ll be the first to know fun details about my book series and you’ll also be privy to additional goodies I may not share on the blog. AND—no Debby Downer content allowed. (We have the news for that.) Love, fun, and encouragement are the backbone of my newsletters. ♥ Hope you’ll join us!

Now, see you back soon!

Much Love and Many Blessings,